Jedi's War
by i-Audio
Summary: I have become the darkness in the jungle.' The words that had drawn Mace to save his padawan, Depa, from the Planet of his birth, have become true for him. What happens when one of the Galaxies greatest Jedi falls? AU, Mace, Yoda, OC


**Title:** Jedi's War  
**Author:** Knight-Nix  
**Timeframe:** Pre-ROTS  
**Rating: **T/PG-13  
**Characters:** Mace Windu, Yoda, OC  
**Summary: **I have become the darkness in the jungle.' The words that had drawn Mace to save his padawan, Depa, from the Planet of his birth, have become true for him. What happens when one of the Galaxies greatest Jedi falls? _Shatterpoint _AU, (Mace, Yoda, OC)

**Notes:** (1) -Italics written by Matthew Strover.

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**Prelude**

"_And, in the end, he was just too tired. Too old. _

_Too wounded…_

…_Something broke inside his head, and all his own wounds crashed upon him. _

_Every cut and bruise every cracked bone and sprained joint, the man-bite on his shoulder and the hole through his guts: all of them blossomed into silent screams._

_His lightsaber went heavy, and his arms went slow. She Depa burned a strip across his chest, and he staggered. _

_His fighting spirit wasn't destroyed. It wasn't even far away. He could feel where it had gone. He could reach out and touch it._

_It was waiting for him in the dark. (1)"_

Mace Windu once again clashed blades with the green cascade of light that flowed from a young woman's lightsaber. With skill that he could barely muster he brought up his purple lightsaber, clashing it with the weapon his opponent wielded with strength that surpassed his.

He grimaced as his eyes met hers. The woman's eyes were an infinite abyss of darkness which mirrored the scene that surrounded them. They stared at him from a drawn and thin face. A scar rested on her forehead where the Greater Mark had once stood. She glowed with the dark side much like the forest that inhabited the planet.

It was now clear what he had to do. Depa Billaba had fallen, she was not one of the Jedi, she was a threat to humanity and she must be dealt with.

Depa Billaba had been sent to Haruun Kal more then four months ago, her mission was to train the locals in Gorilla warfare to help them defend themselves against the separatists. However the simple plan had gone horribly wrong, as such plans have a tendency to do. The jungle had over taken Depa; she had become the darkness in the jungle. The remote civil war had tested her, and she had failed in the eyes of a Jedi.

Both fighters were careful where to step, fearful of falling on a surface that was slick with a substance Mace did not have the stomach to look at. There were too many faces he knew.

This mission was just supposed to be a recon. Get Depa and move out, it was never suppose to bring about a massacre. It had grown to be more then just a civil war, more then just the natives against the city people. His own troops were under attack by a fleet of droids, and the only way to save his people was a small signal-jamming console, to unlock the recall of all the droids.

Pain twisted his gut as he watched the events he had brought about. Stormtroopers and natives, Korunnai; his people, lay lifeless, the planet at war, a war that had now become more destructive then before. The woman he now faced had been part of him, a part that he had let fall to darkness. She had been his padawan, and possibly even more so. Through the years they had spent together she had become his daughter.

As he watched Depa he now understood more then ever why attachment was forbidden to a Jedi. He could not kill her; she was too much to him. Even now, when it was apparent that she was a threat to the Jedi he could not kill her.

Green was all round him and he managed to block another barrage of light. Depa's lightsaber so fast it could not be seen by the naked eye. She was immersed in Vaapad. The seventh and most deadliest form of lightsaber combat, possibly even more deadly to the master then to the opponent. She was the only student to master it, while the one who created it was plagued with grief at what had happened to his apprentice.

Mace Windu once again grimaced as he watched Depa. That was what would to happen to him if he should give himself over to Vaapad. It screamed in his ears, beckoning for him to brake. He could feel himself slipping, losing the battle that raged both inside and outside, in the darkened death infested command bunker. All the training he had done, the hours of meditation and lessons he had sat through, all that was suppose to help him in times like these, fled him.

He was alone, the temple far from his reach, and the insane clam of a Jedi farther still.

Mace suddenly felt the despair of a person other then his own flow through the Force and he let out a sigh of relief. There were others in his world; his nightmare was shared by another.

The feeling was a gift, a lost joy he had forgotten, and he grabbed hold of it with all the strength he had left. Taking one last look at the darkness that beckoned him he dropped his hands and turned away.

His lightsaber fell to his side, dark and cold as death. He was left defenseless and Depa took the moment in her hands and moved in for a slash that was meant to take his life. However Mace retreated quickly casting an eye over the bodies that bore the face of a man he had once killed. He grimaced and looked away taking note not too look down again; his regret of the battle at Geonosis was too close to his heart.

He walked backwards using the Force to guide his steps. His mind reeled with only one purpose. His back hit cold metal and out of the corner of his eye he could see the lights of a console blinking in a myriad of different colors. He glanced up at the blade Depa wove above him and sighed collapsing just as she delivered another killing blow. The lightsaber's heated power slashed through the console like a hot knife on butter.

Down in the transceiver chamber, a young human male looked to the screen of a data pad as it flashed the almighty words:

COMMAND EXECUTED

And in the jungle of Haruun Kal, the remote battle droids were recalled back to base and victory was given to the republic.

Silence fell in the command bunker as the dark power that had filled it resided and eventually diminished.

Under his burning and wounded body Mace could feel the relative coolness of the floor and made to push himself up, however even the thought never made it past his brain. His body stung and burned, and he once again felt the pain of his wounds spill over him, leaving any physical movement to his wildest dreams.

Depa stared down at him, the light of her blade showing the damage she had wrought, both on him and the clones she had killed.

"Oh Mace…"

The drained man could feel her pain just as well as he could hear it in her voice. She looked down at him with eyes now filled with astonishment, her whole body went limp and her lightsaber fell to her side, its light extinguished. "Mace, I'm sorry—I'm so _sorry_…"

As Mace looked upon his former padawan he found the strength to reach a hand towards her. "Depa—"

The woman looked down at Mace and she shook her head. "Mace, I'm sorry." She repeated softly and brought the emitter of her lightsaber to her temple. "We shouldn't have come."

"Depa, no!"

Within that moment Mace's brain woke from its slumber and helped join his thoughts with his body and he rose to his feet with a strength he didn't know existed, leaping for the woman.

He could feel it before he saw it. He was too late. He wasn't strong enough, fast enough. His efforts were in vain.

With her eyes still staring at her Masters she squeezed a slender finger over the activator.

A blaster shot rang out a split second to late and it hit the saber with a resounding clap, however the damage was done. A lightsaber sliced through the human skull with as much ease as it did air. The rod of metal clattered to the ground with a resounding thump and it was once again extinguished.

Mace watched the thin body of his former padawan crumble to the ground and his body went ridged. Smoke rose from her body in small trails and clouded the Jedi Master's vision. However, perhaps the substance that blurred his eyes was liquid not gas, but it made on difference to change what had happened.

Mace's mouth opened in a scream that was never heard by any devise but echoed with the sound of a thousand ion cannons inside the flows of the Force.

Distantly the master could hear the ricochet of his own scream, only aloud, as a young man with a blaster in his hands covered his ears, trying to block out the sound his ears could not hear.

It made no difference who was with him and what they had done to try to save Depa, all that remained was that she was dead. Nothing could change it.

Quite over took him, and the reverberation in the Force stilled, leaving not a sound in the air.

All except the growl.

Mace slid his eyes away from Depa's smoking corpse and settled on the silted eyes of Kar Vestor. His bare chest glistened with sweat as the viboshields on his forearms hummed to life. Each was gleaming polished metal and shaped as an elongated tear drop. Vestor's shaven head was beaded with sweat however his breathing showed no sign of slowing tension. The man just fought off more clones then most people had seen in their life, and he hand not broken his breathing. Memory flooded back into the Jedi Master's mind and he relived the battles the _lor pelek_, Kar Vestor, and he had fought and how his padawan had taken his side in the end. She had chosen to stay and fight with Vestor, instead of coming back to the Jedi Temple. If it were not for him Depa would still be alive.

Revenge is not healthily for a Jedi, however it was even less so for the poor soul who chose to step in a Jedi's way, especially if that Jedi knew Vaapad.

Mace was not a man who chose to harbor those thoughts; however his visit to Haruun Kal had taught him the simple facts of life. And one was the need to blame, to blame someone or something if we fail and Mace was only human. As Mace looked up at the man who had lived with Depa for the last years of her life, he found the person he wanted to blame.

Anger filled the Jedi and the darkness that Mace had once oppressed flooded back around him and leaked into his body, meeting no resistance. The Jedi Master fell, sinking into the sea that had been waiting for him since the very moment he had stepped onto this planet. He was no longer a Jedi, and he knew that, he had embraced the darkness, one that would help him destroy to man who was responsible for Depa's death. Vaapad would help him, which was what he needed.

Kar Vestor looked once into the eyes of the Jedi and smiled broadly.

_/So doshalo…brother…it has come down to us at last./_

The thought was fed through the Force and into Mace's mind, for Vestor had no distinguishable voice.

Mace smiled and rose to his full height, his new found strength in the dark side aiding him. Perhaps one of Mace Windu's greatest weaknesses as a Jedi was his joy in fighting, and this would be a fight that he would never forget.

Mace gave the man no answer but ignited his blade and began twirling it at a speed that was too fast to see.

Thousands of light years away a small green humanoid's eyes flashed open and his heart became laden with grief. Through the Force he had just witnessed to fall of one of the galaxies mightiest Jedi.

TBC

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That's a tribute to Mace Windu...the greatest Jedi to live...anyway fan-girl :). Oh yah read _Shatterpoint _by Matthew Strover its a great book...of which this fic is an AU of. I couldn't put this up on the Forums at TheForce . net...it'll only take fics that are PG or lower...but oh well.

Tell me what you think and I'm looking for a beta reader. If you interested then say so in you review and I'll get back to you. ty

NOTICE- THIS IS ONE HOLD UNTIL MY OTHER FIC, TACTICS, IS FINISHED. Thank you

R&R


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